Stephen P. Kiernan

I kept avoiding this book, maybe the cover, maybe the title but neither intrigued me sufficiently to move it to the top of my reading pile. Another WW II post war book - something was putting me off, holding me back. But then I started reading and still was not totally committed. I am not sure exactly which page hooked me but when it happened I was all in. I didn’t find the story nearly as important as the individual character portrayals and their search for understanding, redemption, show more closure and forgiveness.

Asher, the protagonist, who has lost everything, ponders what he would become if he was able to “put down the grief, the hunger for revenge, the guilt over what the war had required him to do”. He wants peace, reconciliation and reconstruction and more he wants “a terrible storm to pass.” When he is accepted as a member of the Chateau he understands that he is not alone in this search - all of the residents of the Chateau are horribly damaged, concealing heartbreaking secrets. Their faith and labor at glass making are going to challenge them and provide the basis of their healing.

The lessons taught and learned are simple yet extraordinary. A fish leaping so high out of the water teaches “that all we get: from the unknown into this nonstop miracle, before we plunge back into unknowing”. “The discovery that fury was a a form of love.” There are just so many incredible observations as these men travel from what they were to what they had become to what they could be.

As a brief aside - the not so hidden references to Chagall and his symbolism were well placed curiosities that left room for a tangential hmmm. Was that a hidden something and where was it going or just an author’s prerogative to insert something that was an important “influence.” The explanation in the acknowledgments answered those questions.

This book is a thought provoking masterpiece. Incredibly well written and meticulously researched. So many thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for a copy. show less

When you read a lot of books like I do, you realize that there are good books and not so good books. Occasionally you get a surprise and read a GREAT book. A book that is so beautifully written it made me read much slower than usual so I wouldn't miss any of the lyrical sentences. A book with a main character who you know that you'll never forget - one who touches not only your mind but also your soul. A book with a theme that gives you a point of view that you've never read before and makes show more you think. The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan is all that and more. It's one if the best books that I've read in a long time and I know it will be on my top 10 list for 2023.

As the novel begins, the war in France has been over for a month. After the celebrations, the people realized what needed to be done to return to normal. Many people had no homes, every bridge and road had been destroyed, most churches and houses were gone and many families were wiped out. There were many people alone in the world, wondering how to bring life in France back to some kind of normalcy. Asher, a young Jewish man, has lost his wife and daughter and had his business destroyed. In retaliation for the shooting of his loved ones, he has been an assassin in the French resistance. He knows how many people he killed and one in particular haunts his dreams. All Asher wants now is peace and forgiveness. He wanders through the French countryside for a year looking for a place of peace. Several people tell him that peace can be found in Clovide but no one is exactly sure where it is. As Asher travels, he is plagued with doubt and fear combined with extreme hunger but he continues his odyssey. When he finally finds the castle her finds that it is full of a group of men who as damaged as he is but slowly recovering as they work together to make a stain glassed windows for the local Catholic cathedral. When Asher is allowed to stay, he realizes that he must hide his Jewish religion or he fears that they might not let him stay. There is plenty of food and constant work to make the glass. Asher finds that he has an artistic talent and begins to enjoy the process of making glass. Will working with glass - making beautiful glass from common ordinary sand - help Asher find his peace and redemption or are his wounds too deep to be healed?

This is a beautiful well written novel with fantastic characters . I won't forget Asher and his quest for peace. I actually read this book a month ago and I find my mind going back to the story and the characters. To me, that is a sign of a great piece of fiction.

"Victory does not equal peace." show less

Kiernan's novel is set in a small village in Normandy in the months leading up to D-Day, June 6, 1944, when the people of France were living under Nazi occupation. The apprentice baker, Emma suffers immense losses and witnesses unimaginable cruelty but despite this, she resolves to do her best for her grandmother and friends while remaining sceptical of a rescue from Allied forces. She is given an extra ration of flour to make twelve baguettes for the Nazi soldiers, but by adding ground show more straw she is able to save enough flour to make two extra loaves for starving villagers. Combined with other innovative ways to procure food this modest young woman helps her neighbours endure the unendurable, at considerable risk to herself.

Although she accomplished much in the way of helping villagers survive, when the allied invasion comes about, she is overwhelmed by the losses incurred just so that her people can live freely. It's a heartbreakingly familiar story, but Kiernan's writing style has a poetic quality that conveys something extra, more like a parable. It is beautifully written, thought-provoking and memorable. show less

A remarkable and unusual book that retells an old story in a new way. This novel takes place in a small village in France during World War II, occupied by the Nazis just as Allied armies are about to invade on D-Day. But the Germans and Americans are peripheral characters. The real story concerns the war-weary French villagers just trying to live their lives and survive another day. For some that means tiny acts of retribution. For others, complete collaboration. In telling the village's show more story, you get the full story of anyone in times of war.

At the center of the novel is Emma, a cynical but gifted baker with no faith in the future, who steadfastly shoulders the responsible of caring for her mentally-compromised grandmother, Meme. Around Emma are others (the Monsignor, a veterinarian, a cafe owner, a paper pusher to name a few), nearly all women and old men, who struggle desperately and daily with shortages of all kind and pervasive hunger, while occupying soldiers seem to have more than they need. The beauty of this book is in the smallest details of each person's life, where we come to understand everything from the value of a single egg to the randomness behind who survives and who does not in wartime.

Despite her cynicism, Emma takes on the job of bartering between her neighbors in an effort to increase everyone's chances of survival. And in doing so, she becomes her own powerhouse, able to withstand even the harshest treatment. This is a wonderful read, where you will reach deep into the lives of a few memorable characters and find universal lessons about some of the best aspects of our human nature -- like courage, friendship, hope, and love. show less